JACKSON, MISS. -- Sedrick Ellis became a rich man Wednesday, signing a five-year contract with the Saints that officially turned his NFL dream into a reality.

CHUCK COOK / THE TIMES-PICAYUNESedrick Ellis ended his holdout Wednesday by signing a five-year contract with the Saints and taking part in the day's only practice.

But by the end of a long day, his prevailing emotion was fatigue.

"I had a 6 o'clock flight this morning from Tampa, so I'm in dire need of a nap here. But besides that, I'm pretty good, " said the rookie defensive tackle, who held up decently during his first two-hour practice session on a particularly steamy afternoon.

Ellis, who said he probably came in weighing about 305 pounds, wasn't exactly flying all over the field during practice. But he did make a couple nice plays lining up as the three-technique tackle with the second-string defense, and he finished strong.

On the final play of practice, Ellis and defensive end Bobby McCray collapsed the pocket on quarterback Mark Brunell, and McCray stripped the ball loose.

That's the kind of inside-outside threat the Saints were hoping to create when they signed McCray in free agency and moved up in the first round to select Ellis with the seventh overall pick.

"I think I had a couple of good plays this practice, " said Ellis, who worked at both tackle positions during the offseason training activities and will likely do the same throughout training camp. "I'm definitely a guy that likes to do a lot of line games and a lot of movement at the defensive line. I'm not the biggest of defensive linemen, so I pride myself on my ability to move.

"I just like to get in the groove with my teammates and have as much fun as possible."

Defensive line coach Ed Orgeron made sure Ellis didn't have too much fun during practice. He gave him a little extra work during individual drills to help "get him used to the banging."

Ellis had been working out for the past week or so at the Athlete's Compound in Tampa, Fla., the same facility where he did his training for pre-draft workouts. Though he tried to acclimate himself to the Florida humidity, he admitted he couldn't replicate the training-camp conditions.

"You know, it takes a while to get into camp and get into football shape, " said Orgeron, who knows Ellis well after recruiting him to Southern Cal and coaching him for two years there. "He's been in Tampa working out, he's used to the heat, I think his weight is fine, and he looked good. But you know, there's some things that we've got to get better at.

"The quickness he had (in the OTAs) is just not there yet, because of the practice habits and stuff like that. But I think he's going to get that in the next week or so, so he'll be fine."

Orgeron handled the physical development, but Ellis' teammates will take care of the mental initiation to training camp.

There was plenty of friendly chiding about money on the practice field, and Ellis will no doubt be required to foot the bill for some team meals when they get outside of Jackson. While here, he'll also be required to stand up and sing in the cafeteria or something along those lines. He was hoping he could get away with singing the Southern Cal fight song.

"They were giving me a little tough love there, but some of those other defensive line guys aren't too underpaid themselves, " said Ellis, who added on a serious note he really appreciates the way his veteran teammates have been offering help and guidance rather than trying to "big-time" the young players.

Ellis said it was difficult for him to be away from his teammates during the contract negotiations, which lasted seven days into training camp.

"That was really tough, especially when all your new teammates that you haven't made an impression on yet are out working hard, and you want to be a part of that, " Ellis said. "So it definitely weighed on my mind, and I kept in really good contract with my agent and with officials on the team, and we got it finished."

CHUCK COOK / THE TIMES-PICAYUNESedrick Elils said it was difficult to not be in training camp, knowing his teammates were working hard in the Jackson heat.

Ellis said he tried to stay patient and let his agent, Eugene Parker, do "what he gets paid for." But he said he also tried to make sure that Parker was "doing everything possible to get me into camp."

"I wish I could have gotten here on the first day, to be totally honest with you, " Ellis said.

Ellis' deal is worth a maximum value of $49 million with $19.5 million in guarantees, according to league sources. But the deal includes several hard-to-reach incentives, and the likely value is closer to $32 million.

He was one of the final three first-round holdouts, along with No. 8 pick Derrick Harvey and No. 9 pick Keith Rivers, both of whom had not agreed to contracts as of Wednesday night.

Saints Coach Sean Payton and General Manager Mickey Loomis both expressed their frustration about how long the process was taking, but Payton wasn't hard on Ellis when he arrived. He stopped over for a brief chat before practice to offer Ellis his congratulations.

"You get into such a routine, you hear the transactions and you keep moving on, " Payton said, downplaying Ellis' arrival. "Everyone's intact now, and he's got a lot of catching up to do."

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Mike Triplett can be reached at mtriplett@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3405.